Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane hails David McGoldrick after late leveller

Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane praised “outstanding” David McGoldrick after his 15th League One goal of the season rescued a last-gasp 1-1 draw at Burton.

The evergreen striker slotted home from close range after substitute Marc Roberts had headed a free-kick back into the danger area.

“I thought he was outstanding today,” Hourihane said of his leading striker.

“Marc Roberts was like a man possessed when he came on, having not played for a while, and he has managed to head it back across and Didzy is there in the right place to score and it’s great.”

Hourihane felt his side deserved something from a scrappy, wind-affected game as they responded to Charlie Webster’s opener to secure a fourth draw in five games.

He said: “It was a dogged performance. Not the prettiest of games at all. Bradford have lost here recently, as have Stockport and we knew we needed to play a little bit differently.

“We had to go a little bit more direct and use the experience that we had on the pitch.

“We lost our two centre-halves (Eoghan O’Connell and Mael de Gevigney) through, in my opinion, poor challenges, but we ground it out and on the balance of play there wasn’t much in the game and I thought we deserved something.”

Burton head coach Gary Bowyer was left frustrated as another late goal cost his side points in their bid for survival.

“We are a point better off than we were at the start of the day, but it needed to be three,” Bowyer said.

“I am frustrated with the way the free-kick occurs and then, when the free-kick is delivered, McGoldrick is offside. Like all good strikers, he is on the move when it’s headed back across, but it should be offside. The rules are bonkers.”

Albion’s inability to take chances and kill games off came back to haunt them again, having conceded a stoppage-time goal at Blackpool last time out.

“We score a wonderful goal and we had the ball flashing across the goal and we must score another goal,” Bowyer added. “The difference is that you have McGoldrick anticipating and he grabs a goal and we haven’t done enough of that in either half.”

The positive for Bowyer was the return of Webster after injury, the midfielder scoring his seventh of the season.

“You can see what he adds with his goal and he is a massive threat and he is only going to get better for us over these remaining games,” he said. “I have been putting the reins on him in his return, but we will see how he is ahead of Monday.”